

In 2009, Smosh prepared a massive redesign of, added a games section, and put extras in the video section. Smosh continued to grow in popularity and became one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube.

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They started making short YouTube skits, such as their annual video series Food Battle and That Damn Neighbor. Over the course of the next few years, Smosh began to diversify. Hecox (left) and Padilla (right) performing at Vidcon 2012 Due to the channel's continued success, and Smosh's partnership with YouTube, the two recreated the video in November 2010, this time changing the words to be critical of The Pokémon Company taking down the Pokémon theme video. The success of their Pokémon video and other videos led Smosh to be featured in the " Person of the Year: You" issue of Time, published December 13, 2006. It held that title until it was dethroned by Judson Laipply's "Evolution of Dance". However, the video instantly became much more popular than any of their other videos over the course of its lifetime, it gained over 24 million views, becoming the most-viewed video on all of YouTube at that time. It followed the same style as their other earlier videos, featuring the duo lip-synching the original English theme song for the Pokémon anime. One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokémon Theme Music Video," was released on November 28, 2005. At first, these videos were not intended to be posted online, but after they sent them to their friends, they started a YouTube channel. In 2005, they joined YouTube and made several videos together, lip syncing the theme songs to Mortal Kombat, Power Rangers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They became friends, and quickly discovered their knack for comedy. Padilla and Hecox first met in their sixth grade science class.

Later, his friend, Ian Hecox, joined the venture. Other content creators in the pre-YouTube era would also upload videos to, including future YouTuber TomSka. He has stated that the name "Smosh" came from an incident where he mistook a friend explaining a mosh pit as a "smosh pit". The franchise began when Anthony Padilla built a website in 2002,, and made several different Flash animations. Padilla (left) and Hecox (right) at the second annual Streamy Awards in 2010 On September 2, 2020, they launched a Twitch channel named after one of their YouTube channels, Smosh Games. As of 2019, the channel's cast has a core group of Hecox, Courtney Miller, Damien Haas, Olivia Sui, Keith Leak Jr., Noah Grossman and Shayne Topp who run the majority of content. They subsequently joined Mythical Entertainment after their company was purchased by Rhett and Link on February 22, 2019. Six days later, the Smosh cast released a video announcing that production of Smosh, Smosh Pit, and Smosh Games content was still ongoing, and that existing videos would be finished and other content would be released independently by Smosh on their YouTube channels. On November 6, 2018, Smosh's parent company Defy Media abruptly closed without warning. The first period spanned from May to June 2006, the second from April 2007 to September 2008, and the third span from January to August 2013. The Smosh channel has experienced three different spans as the most subscribed YouTube channel. Padilla left Smosh in June 2017 to pursue independent ventures. The sketches have also included more actors. Since 2012, the Smosh brand has expanded to consist of multiple channels, including a Spanish-language channel (ElSmosh), a channel focused on gaming content (Smosh Games), and a variety channel (Smosh Pit). As of May 2022, the Smosh channel has over 10.1 billion views and over 25.1 million subscribers, putting it just outside of the top 9,000 most subscribed channels on YouTube. They began to post videos on Smosh's YouTube channel in the autumn of 2005 and quickly became one of the most popular channels on the site. In 2002, Padilla created a website named "" for making Flash animations, and he was later joined by Hecox. Smosh is an American sketch comedy YouTube channel co-founded by Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla.
